The semiarid shortgrass steppe is especially interesting and important because it is the warmest, driest, and lowest in primary production of the several grassland types that made up what was a very large area of grassland in central North American and because a large fraction of the original area is still in native vegetation. This remaining native vegetation is in both private and public holdings and for the most part it is all grazed by cattle. One of the most interesting characteristics of the steppe is how little it has been altered by the introduction of livestock, which has been attributed to its long evolutionary history of grazing by large herbivores. Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe:A Long Term Perspective summarizes and synthesizes more than 60 years of research that has been conducted throughout the shortgrass region. The shortgrass steppe was an important focus of the International Biological Programme’s Grassland Biome project that ran from the late 1960s until the mid 1970s. The work conducted by the Grassland Biome project was preceded by almost 40 years of research by U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers – primarily from the Agricultural Research Service – and followed to the present by the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research project. Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe:A Long Term Perspective is an enormously rich source of data and insight into the structure and function of a semiarid grassland.

Table of ContentsTop of Page1 The Shortgrass Steppe: The Region and Research Sites

2 Climate of the Shortgrass Steppe

3 Soil Development and Distribution in the Shortgrass Steppe Ecosystem

4 Land-Use History on the Shortgrass Steppe

5 Vegetation of the Shortgrass Steppe

6 The Role of Disturbances in Shortgrass Steppe Community and Ecosystem Dynamics